Sen. Sessions calls Obama budget 'Irresponsible'

It looks like the budget battle on Capitol Hill is far from over. Some members may be doing victory laps after last week’s debate on the budget, but from the looks of a statement coming from the GOP side of the Senate, another round of rock’em and sock’em is already heating up between the parties.

Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee Senator Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican, released a statement on Sunday afternoon in response to President Barack Obama’s spending plan. The Alabama senator called it the “most irresponsible spending plan any president ever put forward.” :

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“The President recently submitted a budget to Congress that was the most irresponsible spending plan any President has ever put forward. Today’s announcement that the President will deliver an address this week on deficit reduction is an apparent recognition that the budget plan he submitted to Congress, as required by law, fails to address our dire fiscal challenges. However, it will not be sufficient for the President to simply make a speech. Instead, he must fulfill his duty as president and submit a new budget plan to Congress specifically setting forth the changes he wishes to make to his previous proposal, including both mandatory and discretionary savings. The President’s vision, whatever it is, must be presented in a detailed, concrete form. CBO must be able to score it and I and the Budget Committees in the House and Senate must be able to scrutinize it. I am uneasy that this announcement has been made not by a substantive policy official such as his budget director or Treasury Secretary but by the President’s top political advisor.

By law, three bodies in Washington must present a budget: the House, the Senate, and the White House. The Republican House proposed last week the most serious effort I have seen during my career to address our nation’s long-term fiscal challenges. I anxiously await an equally serious proposal from the Democrat Senate and White House. Another Washington-style tax-and-spend plan will not be acceptable.”

The Senate, led by Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, has yet to put forth a budget. Under the Budget Act, Congress is required to pass a concurrent budget resolution by April 15th.

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About the Author

Kerry Picket, a former Opinion Blogger/Editor of The Watercooler, was associate producer for the Media Research Center, a content producer for Robin Quivers of “The Howard Stern Show” on Sirius satellite radio and a production assistant and copy writer at MTV.